Tomato Nutrients Help to Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk
Dec 30, 2022 07:35AM ● By Maya Eylon
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Slice
‘em, dice ‘em, turn ‘em into paste. Raw
or cooked. Canned or fresh. There is
no wrong way to eat the tomato, a nutrient-packed superfood. According to the United States Department
of Agriculture Food Availability and
Consumption data report, tomatoes are the second-most commonly consumed
vegetable in the United States, second only to potatoes. Interestingly enough,
this is due to Americans’ high intake of pizza sauce, which
accounted for 56 percent of the tomatoes consumed by Americans. While pizza is probably
not the best way to get your daily dose of tomatoes, it is important for you to find a way
to fit tomatoes into your diet, and here’s why: As a superfood, tomatoes are
packed with micronutrients and natural plant chemicals known as phytochemicals.
From a nutrition perspective, tomatoes are an excellent source of potassium,
folate, and vitamins A, C and E. From
the phytochemical perspective, tomatoes contain polyphenols and carotenoids,
including beta-carotene and lycopene, the compound that gives tomatoes their
bright red color. Lycopene also happens to be a very powerful antioxidant. Because of the tomato’s
unique nutritional profile,
research has indicated
that eating this superfood may help reduce your risk for prostate
cancer.
In
2002, scientists conducted a study with 47,000 participants that found that men
who enjoyed two or more servings of tomato sauce per week had a 23 percent
lower risk for prostate cancer incidence. That
is a pretty powerful finding,
but if you are like me, you are now thinking, “That’s
great, but those
findings are so 2002,” and you are right—in
some cases, newer data can be better data. So let’s take a look at a second
study that was conducted more than a decade later. In this study, researchers
found that from their nearly 50,000 participants, the men who had the highest
intake of lycopene had up to a 28 percent reduction in their risk for prostate
cancer incidence. What’s
more, these findings
were even stronger when it came to the men’s risk for lethal prostate
cancer incidence. The findings from these two studies support that tomatoes,
and the lycopene found in tomatoes, have the potential to significantly
decrease your risk for prostate cancer.
Here
is a simple and delicious physician-approved nutritional recipe with this superfood.
Five-Ingredient
Mediterranean
Salad
Yield:
3-4 servings
4
Roma tomatoes, diced
1 large
English or Persian
cucumber, diced
1
red onion, diced
1½ Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly squeezed
juice from ½ lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
Salt
and ground black pepper
Place the tomatoes, cucumber
and onion in a large salad bowl.
Add the olive oil and lemon juice and toss
until evenly distributed.
Season
with salt and pepper to taste, toss again gently and serve.
Maya Eylon is currently in medical school at Central
Michigan University College of Medicine. A clinical researcher, she has
conducted research with Hadassah Medical Center and Sanford School of Medicine.
Recipe excerpted from Preventing Prostate
Cancer: Reduce Your Risk With Simple, Proactive Choices, by Benny Gavi and Maya Eylon. Ó2022 Healthy Living
Publications.
